by Gun Brooke
Was there genuine kindness in Roshan’s voice? Andreia wasn’t certain. She was so tired that her knees were giving in. “Just point me in the direction of the shower. I’ll worry about the rest later.”
“Okay. Here. Let’s go.” Roshan walked in front of Andreia into the spacious bathroom. Marble, gold, and glass dominated it, and Andreia stood in the middle of the room, swaying. She wanted to tell Roshan that she could manage, that Roshan could leave. I need to gather my thoughts and figure out how to handle everything, including her. Instead, to her dismay, her knees finally collapsed after her ordeal in the ventilation shaft. With a startled intake of breath, she sank ungracefully toward the floor.
Roshan lunged forward and managed to catch her. “Damn it! Are you all right?”
“Stupid knees,” Andreia muttered and clung to Roshan. “All that crawling. It’s nothing. Really.”
Roshan doubted it. “Come here.” She didn’t ask permission, but simply unbuttoned the white coveralls and pulled them off Andreia’s shoulders. Underneath, Andreia wore the same clothes she’d had on at the chairman’s function. “We better get you out of these and into the shower before you fall again.”
“I won’t fall,” Andreia muttered and took a step back. “For the Gods of Gantharat, I’m not a child!”
Surprised by the heated tone behind Andreia’s annoyed words, Roshan let go. “I never meant to suggest you were.”
“Well, you always were good at taking over.” Muttering, Andreia pushed her coveralls down and stepped out of them, then unbuttoned the caftan and tugged fruitlessly at it. “If you want to help, then untangle my hair from whatever it’s stuck to.”
Suddenly not tired at all, Roshan obediently moved in behind Andreia and loosened the long, black strands caught in the ornamental stones at the neckline of the caftan. “There.” She remained where she was as the thin garment slid down Andreia’s body. Static electricity made her red shirt cling to Andreia like a second skin. Without looking back at Roshan, Andreia unbuttoned it and let it fall to the floor as well.
She tried to unfasten her black pants, but Roshan could see her fingers trembling and the button remained closed. “Let me.” She reached around Andreia’s waist from behind and unbuttoned the pants. Andreia’s skin was like satin against Roshan’s hands when she lowered them along slender legs, all the way to Andreia’s small, pretty feet.
Kneeling, Roshan couldn’t stop herself from exploring the way Andreia felt against her hands. The angry passion vanished, and in its place a tender, almost reverent feeling emerged.
“Ro?” Andreia turned within Roshan’s arms and looked down at her with huge, golden eyes.
“Shh.” Roshan gazed up, astonished at how anyone could be so beautiful. Dark, long curls framed Andreia’s triangular face, which, despite her age, held a youthful, wondering expression. Roshan stood, slowly, and smoothed down the unruly tresses that insisted on falling over Andreia’s eyes. It was suddenly so important to make up for the harsh caresses a few minutes earlier. They didn’t have room for any confused anger, masked as passion.
Roshan had no idea why she cared how Andreia felt. They were in this last battle for the planet they loved together, but that was probably it. Once Gantharat was liberated, whether it took one year or ten, would they move along with their lives, their separate lives?
Roshan placed two fingers under Andreia’s chin. Right now, they needed to trust each other, if only to stay alive and carry on the struggle. We’re pawns in our own fight. We have designated duties, and we don’t have a choice but to stick to them, if we want to keep our honor and win. Roshan’s pragmatic inner voice couldn’t calm the urgency of her feelings.
She looked down at Andreia under half-closed eyelids. “We should’ve been friends. We were friends. True friends.” The words were over Roshan’s lips before she realized what she was going to say. H’rea deasav’h! Too frank.
“The occupation destroyed many families, and even more relationships,” Andreia said calmly. “The Onotharian families that had lived here for generations, who considered themselves Gantharians, if not by race, then by allegiance, are now part of a hated people. Not to mention the mixed families. Both camps consider them traitors.”
“Guess we’d fit into that category if we hadn’t…” Roshan hesitated, unable to speak because of the lump in her throat.
“If we hadn’t hated each other first.” Andreia leaned her cheek into Roshan’s hand for a moment. Then she straightened her back and folded her arms in front of her. She was dressed only in her underwear, thin-linen panties and camisole. “I despised you for so many years. I know better now, but the negative feelings…they’re almost engraved in my heart. Probably because what I considered your betrayal and collaboration hurt me so much.”
“And now? Do you realize that I’ve had to live not only with your anger and resentment, but also hatred from my own people? Only three people, not counting you, know my true allegiance.” Roshan shrugged. “To all other Gantharians, I’m what you said, a collaborator. A traitor.”
“They’ll find out the truth. You’ll become a national hero, while I become a renowned traitor to my people. My fall from grace will make a resounding thud, I imagine.”
The crooked grin on Andreia’s face tugged at Roshan’s heart. “Your people, here, will know the truth and understand.”
Andreia began to shiver, perhaps from being undressed, but Roshan thought it was more from how she imagined the Gantharian people would react to her double existence.
“I’m not so sure,” Andreia said. In fact, I’m sure the opposite will happen. People in both camps will see me as a traitor. I know this, and I’ve accepted it.”
Roshan ached because of the pain behind Andreia’s wry grin. “Not much I can say to convince you, is there?” she asked. Roshan wished there was. She wanted to erase the desolation and calm acceptance of what Andreia saw as her fate.
“No. Not really.” Andreia rubbed her own arms. “I better go take that shower—”
“Yes.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have hydro-technology?”
“I do.”
“That’ll help me get warm again.” Andreia headed for the shower stall, but turned back quickly. “Oh. Right. Do you have any clothes I can borrow? Something that isn’t impossibly huge on me?”
“I’m sure I can find something.” Roshan curled her hands into tight fists. Andreia looked so alluring, so innocent, as she stood almost naked in front of her. If she doesn’t go now, I’ll have to kiss her again. Roshan forced herself to breathe evenly and look confident.
“You need a shower too, I think,” Andreia said over her shoulder as she pulled the camisole over her head.
Don’t! Don’t… Roshan squeezed her eyes closed at the hot images of sliding her hands over a soap-lathered Andreia. She could hear soft moans, as clearly as if—
“You all right, Ro?” Andreia sounded concerned. “You’re making odd noises.”
“I’ll…I’ll go see about the clothes. I can shower later.” Ice cold. Later.
When Andreia nodded and stuck her thumbs inside her panties, Roshan fled the bathroom and rushed into the adjoining room where her clothes hung on a revolving rack. She kept some as patterns in a fabric recycler she’d bought on Corma, a few years ago. Roshan cursed out loud when she realized she hadn’t asked Andreia’s size. She’d have to guess. Booting the computer she envisioned the dark beautiful woman currently in her shower. Andreia was shorter than herself, but not small. Curvaceous without being overweight. “Non-woven briefs, size Medium-C, white,” she instructed the computer. “Thin-linen camisole, Medium-D, white.” Roshan hesitated. “Leather-like pants, Medium-B, red. Thin-linen collar shirt, Medium-D, white.”
The computer hummed as it processed the order. It would take about ten minutes, and in the meantime, Roshan found some clothes for herself. She wasn’t going to wait for Andreia to come out dripping wet; she was going to take an ionic-resonance shower, which lasted
about ten seconds. Time-saving and at a safe distance.
Roshan knew she’d be back before Andreia got out, ready to face her with new resolve. She had to contain these new impulses, or old, whichever way you looked at it. She had had a minor lapse when vulnerable, but cleaning up and getting some rest would take care of that.
*
Andreia sat up in the strange bed, uncertain for a moment what woke her and where she was. Instead of the dark gray, metal-plated ceiling, with lighter gray walls, like the ones in her apartment, she saw umbra-colored, organic velvet wall hangings, and a ceiling made from the same blackwood as the doors. She rose, and her feet sank into plush, dark blue carpet; the whole area around the bed was soft and pliant. “Mattress-rest floors. A customary Gantharian detail I’ve missed.” Andreia reveled in the cushioned feeling under her feet as she tiptoed around the room, looking out the window. Rested, she now took time to survey the surroundings, impressed with Roshan’s estate.
Roshan. Oh, stars! Andreia’s breath caught as she remembered the heated, almost desperate kiss they’d shared. She could still feel Roshan towering over her, a magnificent warrior, determined to claim her… The word “prey” came to mind, and Andreia reached for the window frame and held on, lightheaded. She gazed down her abdomen and saw how her small nipples had hardened, clearly outlined by the thin-linen fabric. Wearing one of Roshan’s large shirts didn’t help, for its silky smoothness reminded her of Roshan. And her faint scent—dark and musky—was still there, unless it was Andreia’s imagination. Over on the chair by the old-fashioned dresser lay her clothes, freshly replicated from a buffer pattern in Roshan’s fabric recycler.
The guest room was located at the far end of the private part of Roshan’s mansion. Andreia checked the time and realized she’d slept four of the five hours they’d agreed on. The hydro shower had left her lethargic, and she had very vague memories of Roshan showing her to the room. Andreia frowned, trying to remember, but all she was sure of was that Roshan had seemed cold and distant, almost hostile. Still, her hands had been tender as they guided her there, and the contradiction had only confused Andreia further. Now, when she was rested and more able to judge her own reactions, as well as try to interpret Roshan’s, she was convinced that Roshan regretted letting her guard down earlier.
“How she must hate having shown such weakness,” Andreia muttered as she reached for her clothes. “Kissing me, of all people. And like that.”
The kiss had left Andreia breathless and filled with a reluctant, yet overwhelming, desire. When Roshan had bent Andreia over her arm, their lips meeting with such ferocity, Andreia could think only of how she wanted the craziness never to stop.
Andreia tugged at her clothes with jagged movements, groaning when the fabric caressed her heated skin, which seemed to have a memory of its own. Her skin sensed long, slender fingers pulling her close, as gentle as they were assertive.
“You’re also awake, I see.” Roshan’s husky voice interrupted the communication Andreia had with her own skin.
“Ro!” No, no. No squeaky voice like that. Andreia cleared her throat. “You’re up.” Oh, brilliant. Not much better.
“Yes.” Was there a humorous gleam in Roshan’s eyes at Andreia’s obvious discomfort?
“I…” Andreia forced herself to get a grip on her scrambling brain, and her only alternative was to slip into her role as Andreia M’Aldovar, spokesperson extraordinaire for the Onotharian master. “I slept fine, how about you?” she asked, her voice cool and detached, her smile thin.
Her transformation had more than the desired effect on Roshan, whose smile faded away, and whose amused expression vanished as if it had never existed.
“Fine,” Roshan said curtly. “You hungry?”
“Not really,” Andreia said as the thought of food made her stomach churn. “I guess it would be smart to eat something, though. I’ll probably need my strength when I return to headquarters.”
“You mean ‘we?’”
Andreia had begun walking, but stopped at Roshan’s short question. “No, I didn’t mean we, but, well, if you insist on joining me, we’d better get our stories straight. I just don’t understand why you would go.”
“Officially? Or privately?” Roshan inched from the door frame as Andreia walked toward her.
Andreia couldn’t judge if Roshan’s words were taunting. Confused, she jutted her chin out and raised it in a good imitation of how her mother made an entrance. Le’Tinia could do that: walk into a room of strangers and within fifteen minutes become the uncrowned queen, indisputably the most charismatic person there. Andreia knew she could never play it like her mother. She didn’t have the flare for such strategies, and normally she couldn’t be bothered. Right now, however, the role seemed the appropriate, and only possible, course of action. And judging from Roshan’s taken-aback look, she wasn’t completely incompetent at it.
“Officially. That’s the only version we have, isn’t it?” Andreia smoothed the new pants around her thighs. “Why would you go with me to the headquarters where you’ve never set foot before, as far as I know?”
“We’re getting reacquainted. You’re very proudly going to show me around, and I’m going to shake hands with your parents.” Roshan spoke smoothly, but her eyes were dull, as if the blue had washed out. “We’ll make sure the guards are so taken with us when we enter, they won’t notice that you don’t actually submit your fingerprint. They’ll be too busy adding me to their system to bother with a famous person like you.”
The plan was simple, and in its simplicity, it sounded both easy and hard. “It’s a big risk.”
Roshan shrugged. “It’s that, or they nail you when you go through the gates…or find out somehow that you never left. Either way, that scenario puts Boyoda, the most hunted resistance member on the planet, in jeopardy. If anyone even begins to suspect that you aren’t who and what you seem to be…” Another quick jerk of Roshan’s shoulders finished the sentence.
“So, it’s a matter of looking east when you want to go west, you mean?” Andreia wrinkled her nose at the old Gantharian saying. “Well, there’s the not-so-small matter to consider that if I get caught, with you in tow, you’ll be compromised right there with me.” Andreia gasped as the words strummed a foreign, rarely used string inside her. The tone, sorrowful and ominous, resounded in her head. The thought of Roshan dragged away to the prison compounds, only to be thrown into an asteroid prison and forgotten by most, tormented her. I’d never forget you.
Roshan moved away from the door frame and let the wall support itself. “All right. Let’s go have something to eat, then.” She looked at Andreia with sharp, arctic eyes.
“Very well,” Andreia said. “I think I can manage something light.” She suspected that her voice sounded as hollow as her heart and stomach felt.
*
“Ms. M’Aldovar,” the security guard beamed. “Good to see you again.”
“You too. I haven’t seen you in ages.” Andreia returned the young Onotharian’s smile.
Roshan wanted to groan impatiently at the sight of the starstruck guard. Andreia looked as if she basked in his adulation. How much of that’s part of her act?
Andreia wore the new clothes with a casual elegance that Roshan never could’ve emulated, even if she’d wanted to. Despite the fact that Andreia was a bit shorter than the average Onotharian woman, her legs were long and shapely. She moved with calm, confident steps, and there was no way anyone could tell Andreia was wracked with a case of bad nerves. How is it I can tell? She seems fine at first glance.
“This is my very close friend, Ms. O’Landha. I thought I’d give her the grand tour.”
“Certainly, ma’am. I’ll issue her a temporary pass.”
“Thank you.”
Roshan had to go through a series of hand and retina scans before the guard was satisfied. She growled inside at the slow procedure and the fact that she was smiling and accommodating an Onotharian. Only the fact that Andreia stood so nea
r, her body close to Roshan’s while she pressed her hand to a scanning sensor, made it possible for Roshan to stick to the plan.
Once she was cleared, they walked through the medium-sized of the three detectors, and Andreia held Roshan’s hand, giving her longing, loving glances. Roshan knew the overtures were all part of their scheme to get Andreia inside. She’s like a magician. Redirect the audience’s attention by creating a diversion.
Andreia stuck her small, narrow hand in Roshan’s, telling herself that she was merely playacting, with no other motive than to make sure the guards were looking at anything but her own hand.
When they passed the scanning device, Roshan did something unexpected, even from her own point of view. She pulled Andreia close and kissed her cheek. The silken feel of Andreia’s skin against her lips made Roshan linger.
“Mm,” Roshan hummed against Andreia and rubbed her cheek gently with her own. “So sweet of you to show me around.”
“Roshan?” Andreia sounded breathless.
Roshan was uncertain if Andreia was acting too, or if she was as taken aback as she sounded.
The guard and his colleague stared at them, more than likely stunned at the sight of the romantic overtures involving the famous Andreia M’Aldovar. Roshan would bet her last credit that they’d never seen Andreia act anything but appropriately.
Roshan placed her palm on the scanner, allowing it to enter her biosignature and handprint. She closed her eyes briefly, suddenly afraid that her data would exist in a file somewhere, without her knowledge. Half-expecting alarms to go off, Roshan squeezed Andreia’s hand harder.
“Don’t worry,” Andreia whispered in her ear. “You’ll be fine.”
How did she know? Roshan sent Andreia what she hoped was a tender look. “Thank you, henshes.” She brushed her lips over Andreia’s forehead and nudged her to move past the identification equipment. It would probably not begin to howl since Andreia was already logged in, but Roshan wasn’t sure. It also might go into lockdown, which would jeopardize both of them.
